PK0-005 Project Life Cycle Practice Question
A project has earned value (EV) of $50,000, planned value (PV) of $60,000, and actual cost (AC) of $55,000. What is the cost performance index (CPI)?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse CPI with SPI or inverting the numerator and denominator — candidates who memorize 'EV over something' without anchoring which denominator belongs to which index will pick 0.83 (SPI) or 1.10 (AC/EV) instead of 0.91.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
0.91
CPI is calculated as EV divided by AC. With EV = $50,000 and AC = $55,000, CPI = 50,000 / 55,000 = 0.909, which rounds to 0.91. A CPI below 1.0 indicates the project is over budget for the work performed.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
0.83
Why it's wrong here
A CPI of 0.83 divides EV by AC incorrectly, using PV ($60,000) as the denominator instead of AC. It is tempting because schedule performance index (SPI) is calculated as EV/PV, yielding 0.83 here; that formula answers how efficiently schedule is being used, not cost.
- ✗
1.10
Why it's wrong here
1.10 inverts the CPI formula, dividing PV by AC rather than EV by AC. The tempting error is treating the index as a schedule measure; a value above 1.0 signals under-budget spending, which would arise only if EV exceeded AC. Here EV of $50,000 against AC of $55,000 gives 0.91.
- ✓
0.91
Why this is correct
CPI is earned value divided by actual cost: 50,000 divided by 55,000 equals approximately 0.91. A value below 1.0 indicates the project is over budget for the work completed, since each dollar spent delivered only about 91 cents of earned value.
- ✗
1.20
Why it's wrong here
CPI is EV divided by AC, giving 50,000/55,000, approximately 0.91, so 1.20 is wrong. The value 1.20 would result from dividing EV by PV (the schedule performance index), which measures schedule efficiency rather than cost efficiency.
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Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
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